So-called “conversion therapy” for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth is ineffective, counterproductive and dangerous, according to a study by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released on Thursday.

The study was immediately embraced by the White House, with senior Obama aide Valerie Jarrett telling reporters in a conference call: “We believe that conversion therapy for young people is not in their best interests, and the facts and evidence support that. We would support, and have supported, making it illegal for young people.”

The 2014 Trans* Pride Seattle 2014 march makes its way down Broadway. A subsequent rally saw transgender young people speak of persecution and efforts to “convert” them. (Joshua Bessex, seattlepi.com)

The therapy, usually offered by fundamentalist religious groups, has been banned in California, New Jersey, Oregon and Illinois.

In its study, SAMHSA found that same-gender attractions are “a part of the normal spectrum of human diversity and do not constitute a mental disorder.” And conversion therapies “are coercive, can be harmful and should not be part of behavioral health treatment.”

“Directing the child or adolescent to conform to any particular gender expression or identity, or directing parents and guardians to place pressure on the child or adolescent to conform to specific gender expression and or identity, is inappropriate and reinforces harmful gender stereotypes,” the study concludes.

“We do strongly believe that young people should be valued for what they are, no matter what they look like, where they’re from, the gender with which they identify, or who they love,” she said.

“It’s not our job to tell parents how to raise children but it is our responsibility to show parents the best scientific evidence in order for them to make the best possible decisions,” Jarrett added.

Congress is not likely to ban conversion therapy.

It did approve ending the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy toward gays and lesbians serving in the military, but did so in late 2010, just before Republicans took over control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Republican-run House spent more than $3 million in taxpayer money to defend the anti-gay federal Defense of Marriage Act before the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court in 2013 threw out key provisions of the law — it banned legally married same-sex spouses from receiving federal benefits — and followed up in 2015 by legalizing marriage equality in all 50 states.

The LGBT civil rights movement has turned its attention to transgender Americans, and to gay, lesbian and transgender youth who make up a disproportionate number of kids living on the street, in Seattle and other American cities.